If a motor vehicle, such as a car, is involved in an accident in which the front part of the vehicle hits a vulnerable road user, such as a pedestrian or a cyclist, it is not uncommon that the head of the vulnerable road user impacts on the bonnet of the vehicle. The vulnerable road user may in that case be severely injured. One parameter, which can affect the severity of the injury, is the fact that the bonnet, which is usually formed from thin metal sheet, would tend to bend, and then deform on hard engine parts, such as an engine block, located in an engine compartment beneath the bonnet. In order to reduce the severity of these accidents, it is well-known to use a deployable bonnet. By raising the rear part of the deployable bonnet to a deployed position, the distance between the bonnet and the hard engine parts is increased, and thereby the consequences of such an impact are mitigated.
The bonnet is in American English known as a hood, but herein the British English term bonnet is used.
Document DE 101 52 621 A1 discloses a safety arrangement including a bonnet with at least one rear hinge device attached to the bonnet and a body of the vehicle. In a collision with a vulnerable road user, the bonnet is raised at the rear end. The front region of the bonnet is thereby forcibly raised by means of a mechanical coupling. Therefore, in the deployed position, the bonnet is raised both at the front and rear ends.
Further, according to DE 101 52 621 A1, the front end of the bonnet is moved to the deployed position before it is possible to open the bonnet in a normal way, i.e., pivoting around the rear end, in order to permit access to the engine compartment for service, maintenance and repair. Therefore, according to DE 101 52 621 A1, there is no need for a locking mechanism retaining the bonnet in the closed position.
Thus, in the safety arrangement according to DE 101 52 621 A1 the bonnet is displaced from the closed position to the open position via the deployed position. Likewise, the bonnet is displaced back from the open position via the deployed position to the closed position. It is thus not possible to displace the bonnet directly from the closed to the open position, making the normal opening of the bonnet a bit complicated.